UNIONS and education bodies have called for action against universities which pressure students into accepting unconditional offers.

A new consultation released today by the Office for Students (OfS) suggests universities that push students into accepting unconditional offers should be fined or even deregistered.

The document warned higher education providers’ indiscriminate use of unconditional offers is akin to pressure selling and could put them in breach of consumer law.

Almost a quarter (22.9 per cent) of students applying to university in 2018 received an unconditional offer, compared with 1 per cent in 2013.

This is despite a low hit rate for A-level grade predictions, which are correct for just 16 per cent of students. 

No other country uses a predicted grade system to award places at universities.

OfS chief executive Nicola Dandridge said: “It is plainly not in students’ interests to push them to accept an offer that may not be their best option.

“Whatever admissions practices universities choose to use, they should clearly be encouraging students to make the decision that is right for them, and not the decision that best suits the university.

“If we identify cases where unconditional offers are having an obvious negative impact on students’ choices or outcomes, we are of course prepared to intervene.”

The UCU union, which recently published proposals for an admissions system where students apply to university after they receive their grades, believes that this approach would help to end the use of unconditional offers.

UCU head of policy Matt Waddup said: “It is encouraging that the higher education sector is finally looking at how to tackle the explosion of unconditional offers.

“Shifting to a system where students apply to university after they receive their grades would make these types of unconditional offers redundant, bring us in line with the rest of the world and end the chaotic clearing scramble.”

Labour shadow education secretary Angela Rayner warned that the system would give universities “a perverse incentive to make more unconditional offers” and that it would be the “disadvantaged students, who are most likely to have lower predicted grades, that are losing out.

“Education is a right, not a privilege and the next Labour government will scrap tuition fees and bring back maintenance grants to give everyone the chance to access higher education, regardless of their background.”
 

Education Secretary Damian Hinds said he has told the OfS that where institutions cannot justify the rising number of unconditional offers, they should use the full range of powers at their disposal to take action.